Another 1:1 project rolled in Friday a 1950 Ford

[mchook]

Well, my father sold his 51 Chevy pickup a couple weeks ago, which I was kinda happy to see go. We put a lot of work in it and he still wasn't happy with it. He called Friday and asked me to haul his new project home. This "wonderful" 1950 Ford 4 door sedan. I know nobody wants a 4 door but he doesn't care, he just wants to ride in something old. It doesn't run "yet" and it has a 6 cylinder with a 3 speed overdrive transmission. Shouldn't be too hard to get it running again, we have plenty of spare parts and a few flathead v8s if it gives us too much trouble. We just put his 49 Ford pickup back in the garage to work on so I'm not sure when we'll start on this. Either way, let the wrench turning, cussing & bloody knuckles start all over again.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Nice old car. My father had one as a company car when I was a little kid, and not too long back, I found a junkyard in Az. with several solid examples.

4-doors make useful daily drivers too.  

 

[iamsuperdan]

The 2-soors may be more desirable, but I still thank that's pretty cool.

Looks like a solid car from those pics. Doesn't look like too much work to make it a fun driver. Well, other than the  non-running engine of course.

[espo]

As a child I remember going to the local Ford dealer one evening to pick up our new '49 Ford Custom 4-door in Black with the V-8 and Overdrive. Stay'd in service until a parked car jumped out in front of my mother in the late '50's. You are very lucky to find one with what looks like minimal if any rust. I would go with a warmed over Flathead V-8, Interesting point on the stock Flathead 6, the torque between the two engines is very close.  Might be fun to build a 6 just to be different. 

[bobthehobbyguy]

Cool looking ride.

[cobraman]

I like it !  Looks very straight .  How is the interior ?

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Chop it!!!! -RRR

[Paul Payne]

Can't tell through the windows- original or redone interior? If you keep the six, maybe work it up like a Hudson Hornet? My dad had a 53 ranchwagon with a rebuilt straight six- was that originally a truck engine? With a six, there was a lot of leftover space under the hood.

[mchook]

6 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

4-doors make useful daily drivers too.  

Thanks Bill, I'm petty sure that's the way we're headed.

5 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

The 2-soors may be more desirable, but I still thank that's pretty cool.

Looks like a solid car from those pics. Doesn't look like too much work to make it a fun driver. Well, other than the  non-running engine of course.

Thanks Dan, it's pretty solid compared to most here in N.Y. It will run, like dad says "if its got gas and spark we can make it run".

5 hours ago, espo said:

I would go with a warmed over Flathead V-8, Interesting point on the stock Flathead 6, the torque between the two engines is very close.  Might be fun to build a 6 just to be different

Hey David, like you said these old 6 cylinders are full of torque. We had a 51 2 door sedan when I was "younger" and you could get it to 70mph quick! He has a friend who has a 2 carb setup for a 6, maybe we can talk him out of it.

3 hours ago, bobthehobbyguy said:

Cool looking ride.

Thanks Bob!

 

2 hours ago, cobraman said:

I like it !  Looks very straight .  How is the interior ?

Thanks Ray, the interior is pretty nice. Good headliner, new seat covers and carpet but someone removed the door panels so we'll have to do something about that.

 

2 hours ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

Chop it!!!! -RRR

We're probably going for a fake chop, you know put a sun visor on it. We have one for it, along with some lowering blocks for the rear and maybe some fender skirts.

37 minutes ago, Paul Payne said:

Can't tell through the windows- original or redone interior? If you keep the six, maybe work it up like a Hudson Hornet? My dad had a 53 ranchwagon with a rebuilt straight six- was that originally a truck engine? With a six, there was a lot of leftover space under the hood.

Thanks Paul, the interior is partially redone so hopefully it wont be to bad to finish (door panels). We'll probably stick with the 6 if it's not worn out. There is a lot of room in these engine bays. I had a 51 Coupe that we put a 272 Mercury Y block with 3 deuces in back when I was a kid. We never finished it, I wish I never sold it.

[Ace-Garageguy]

53 minutes ago, mchook said:

...I had a 51 Coupe that we put a 272 Mercury Y block with 3 deuces in back when I was a kid. We never finished it, I wish I never sold it.

Yeah, there's not much that's cooler than a little mild-custom shoebox with a Y-block sporting three twos.

Those rounded hood corners, frenched headlight tunnels, rounded rear wheel cutouts, and custom grille opening are pretty slick.

Wonder where she is now?

[espo]

23 hours ago, mchook said:

Well, my father sold his 51 Chevy pickup a couple weeks ago, which I was kinda happy to see go. We put a lot of work in it and he still wasn't happy with it. He called Friday and asked me to haul his new project home. This "wonderful" 1950 Ford 4 door sedan. I know nobody wants a 4 door but he doesn't care, he just wants to ride in something old. It doesn't run "yet" and it has a 6 cylinder with a 3 speed overdrive transmission. Shouldn't be too hard to get it running again, we have plenty of spare parts and a few flathead v8s if it gives us too much trouble. We just put his 49 Ford pickup back in the garage to work on so I'm not sure when we'll start on this. Either way, let the wrench turning, cussing & bloody knuckles start all over again.

Thinking about the 2 x 2 setup you mentioned, I saw a picture on one of the car shows on the net yesterday. I think it was the Viva Los Vegas Rockabilly show. They had a walk by on all the lines of cars and there was a flathead 6 with a finned aluminum high compression head and two twos. Not sure if anyone offeres a cam for this engine but that and some bigger pistons could make this real interesting. Anyone can drop a sbc in something but making something out of what you got has it's own rewards.  

[mchook]

On 10/4/2021 at 6:30 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

Those rounded hood corners, frenched headlight tunnels, rounded rear wheel cutouts, and custom grille opening are pretty slick.

Wonder where she is now?

It was pretty cool at the time back in the 80s. I got it when I was about 13, I traded a 54 Mercury for it. Ya, I've been doing this for a long time. I always wonder about what ever happened to it.

10 hours ago, espo said:

Anyone can drop a sbc in something but making something out of what you got has it's own rewards.  

Exactly what I think too. The 51 Chevy truck he just sold was just that, 350 with an automatic 🥱. The 49 F1 we're working on now will be sporting a 51 Mercury flathead V8 with all vintage speed stuff. Edelbrock tri power, offenhauser heads and magneto, you know, all the good stuff.

[espo]

13 hours ago, mchook said:

It was pretty cool at the time back in the 80s. I got it when I was about 13, I traded a 54 Mercury for it. Ya, I've been doing this for a long time. I always wonder about what ever happened to it.

Exactly what I think too. The 51 Chevy truck he just sold was just that, 350 with an automatic 🥱. The 49 F1 we're working on now will be sporting a 51 Mercury flathead V8 with all vintage speed stuff. Edelbrock tri power, offenhauser heads and magneto, you know, all the good stuff.

That is sort of the setup I ended up with on my little '51. I didn't have a Mercury Crank but Evens Heads and Manifold. I also at one time had a '34 Ford pickup with a little over a foot cut off of the end of the bed. The engine was a '53 Ford with the same setup on it with the stock Trans, and Rear End. They weren't the fastest but they were the most fun to play with. 

[mchook]

Well, we got the old thing running and it didn't run too bad. We drove it around the yard and the steering seemed tight so we checked to see if there was anything in the box and it was full of grease. It looked like someone just stuck a grease gun in it and filled it up. I figure the past owners knew it was going bad but didn't want to change it. The adjustment was so tight we couldn't get it loose either. We put some brake fluid in it and figured, what the heck, lets take it down the road. That's the good thing about living in the sticks, you can do this without alot of traffic. Down the fresh tarred and chipped road we went. It was all over the road, the wheel had about a quarter turn of play in it. I noticed my father put one hand on the seat and one on the dash when I put it in 3rd gear down the hill and around the turn so I slowed down and it quit. We were still going down the hill and it wouldn't pop start so I figured, yup we're walking back to the house. I pulled out the choke a little, hit the starter and she fired back up. We got it turned around and back to the house. Dad said he had another steering box so we dug it out and grabbed some tools. It's now in front of the garage with the steering column and box out, waiting for the other one to be put in. Maybe this weekend we'll get it back together and try it again! I love being able to make these memories with my father. He'll be 78 next month and he still loves playing with this old junk.

[espo]

Don't know how long this has been sitting but the fuel tank may have a lot of bad gas and what ever else that can clog up a fuel filter and the carb. even if you put fresh gas in the tank. 

[thatz4u]

looks like an AMT Promo I have

[Zippi]

Nice looking 50 Ford.  I hate to see ya get rid of the 51 Chevy pickup.  I have a 49.

[Misha]

It’s great to be sharing this project with your Dad Mark! Please keep us posted on your progress.

Cheers Misha

[charlie8575]

The 6/OD can make for decent performance. For a little extra power, twin carbs and a split exhaust can do the trick. The 6 and V8 weren't all that far apart in power, so I think you'll be pretty happy with it. Besides, it's good to be a little different.

I'd keep it pretty close to stock, if not exactly stock, and enjoy, at least in the nice weather.

Charlie Larkin

[espo]

The body on this looks real solid in the pictures. The Bumpers and Grill my need a little chrome work but other than that the trim looks good. I understand there is a big parts supplier support for these cars as well.  

[mchook]

On 10/20/2021 at 7:29 PM, Zippi said:

Nice looking 50 Ford.  I hate to see ya get rid of the 51 Chevy pickup.  I have a 49.

Thanks Bob, your 49 is a sweet little truck, I've seen it in a few of your other posts. The old Chevy we had wasn't a bad truck, it just seemed like it always needed something else. It was pretty rough when we got it and ended up to be a nice driver. Here's a few before & after pics of it.

[Zippi]

15 minutes ago, mchook said:

Thanks Bob, your 49 is a sweet little truck, I've seen it in a few of your other posts. The old Chevy we had wasn't a bad truck, it just seemed like it always needed something else. It was pretty rough when we got it and ended up to be a nice driver. Here's a few before & after pics of it.

Thanks.  The AD truck you had looks pretty sweet.  Love the blue. 

[mchook]

Thanks everyone for your interest and comments. I was back at dads yesterday and he had the steering box back in the old Ford already. He said he took it for a ride and it steered 100% better but it still would quit on him. He figured out that someone moved the fuel lines and added a filter right next to the exhaust manifold and it was getting hot and cooking the gas. We moved the line, made a heat shield and figured it would help. We went for a ride again and it did steer better but it could use a little tightening. We ended up going for about a 10 mile ride and it ran good until you got on it a little and it would spit and sputter. When we got back we put new plugs in it and it ran the same. We changed the carb and it ran the same. We checked the points, condenser, cap, rotor and everything was fine. We pulled the gas line off and ran it from a can to see if the tank or line was plugged a little and it ran the same. We went and had a couple beers, came back, pulled the distributor and changed it and it still ran the same. While doing all this I kept saying it's out of time, but he said it wasn't and it wouldn't run this bad just from being out of time. So I loosened the distributor again while he was revving it up, turned it about a half inch and it ran like a champ. All that work and aggravation for a 2 minute fix! Oh well, we had fun and got to spend more time together and that's really what it's all about. Next we'll rebuild the carb and try to figure out how to make the overdrive work.

[espo]

Amazing sometimes how good these old engines would run even if the timing is off by that much. Glad you got that fixed before you had to throw any money at it. I like how your blue pickup looked when you got done with it.